Teaching and Learning. Inspiration and Motivation: What Teachers can and cannot do
An instructor goes home at the end of the day and says to their loved one:
“Today I taught my students”
Or, an instructor goes home at the end of the day and says to their loved one:
“Today I learned my students”
Which one is going to get the instructor the strangest looks? I’m guessing that second one. This is a blinding glimpse of the obvious. So then why would we expect anything less than the same weird look when a teacher assumes that they can make a student learn? Come to a teacher support workshop I conduct at the university I work at and I will certainly try to teach you but I definitely can’t learn you.
In my field of instructional design we talk all the time about teaching and learning as if it were a single concept. It really isn’t. They are two separate entities and a different individual owns each in the educational setting — teachers own the teaching and learners own the learning.
And with that planted firmly in mind, I think the goal is clear. As a coach/ facilitator/instructor/teacher, the best I can do in the teaching and learning relationship is to create an environment that maximizes opportunities for the learner to learn. After that, it’s up to them.
For any instructional design suggestions I make in a teaching support workshop, there will almost always be the opportunity to note how that won’t work for all situations. Sadly, it’s true. Some learners will actively seek to find ways to game the system as opposed to actively seeking to learn. In doing so, these individuals can frustrate and dishearten their instructors to no end.
Of course, the act of looking for a short cut is only human nature. We all seek ways to make our lives easier. Some short cuts are fair and ethical and some are not. So then how do you get more learners to do good and do the work?
Motivation. As much as I have seen that there will be learners out there that aren’t motivated to learn and will look for ways to cheat, there are other learners who are driven to learn and improve via curiosity, effort and practice.
But, just like I can’t learn you, neither can I motivate you.
I can inspire you. That I own.
If I find a way to reach you then you can become motivated. You own that.
Of course, I can reward you for doing what I want or I can punish you for not doing what I want. Those are opposite ends of the same tool. That’s my best attempt at motivating you. And if you have explored the research on extrinsic motivation then you are probably aware that it may often be a good place to start but in the long run the behaviours produced by the reward or punishment tend to disappear when the reward or punishment is withdrawn.
Therefore, I need to find ways to get you to desire to learn over the long-term and of your own accord. Over the years I’ve found that these three things have helped me inspire others to become more motivated to learn:
Be Passionate — Passion is the basis. There is no inspiration without passion. Intrinsic motivation is forged in the flames of affect. Openly convey your love for what you do. Openly express your love for teaching others what you do. Be unapologetic about the fact that you ooze passion and that some of that may trickle onto others whether they like it or not. It’s an infection worth spreading today. Some people laugh at me when I get passionate. It’s like I’m too old to be showing that level of enthusiasm. Then again who doesn’t have a memory of looking at their kids and wishing they still had that level of child-like zeal for even the simplest of things?
Be Vulnerable — Anyone can be passionate for a short period of time. To create long lasting motivation one needs to inspire from a core of perpetual passion. Negative experiences repeated over and over can easily lead to cynicism. As hard as it may be to do, open yourself up to the hurt and disappointment that can often happen when your expectations aren’t met. It’s grating and it’s raw. It hurts. Well, let it hurt! For me, a good night’s sleep is all I usually need to heal the wounds my passion may have been dealt the previous day. In doing so, I experience and process those immense feelings and move on. However, without vast reserves of passion, being vulnerable through the thick and the thin, day in and day out, is unsustainable. Life is too short to put up with any crap you just don’t care that much about.
Be Honest — Passion and vulnerability will take your learners a long way towards being inspired but they won’t take everyone all the way. What you teach and how you teach it isn’t going to float everyone’s boat. Challenge learners with that: “If you don’t get excited about this then what are you doing here? Go find what makes you eager to know more!” Getting those learners to realize that as soon as possible may seem harsh but over the long haul it is probably the most genuine thing that you can do for them. And sometimes you need to point that mirror of honesty in your own direction. If you’re having a hard time staying vulnerable then is your passion being used in the right way? Maybe you’re in the wrong place? Do you still have the passion necessary to inspire?
These three things have served me pretty well with most of the learners that I have worked with in a variety of contexts over the last three decades. To all those coaches, facilitators, instructors and teachers out there struggling with the dispiriting side of the behaviour of some learners please consider this my attempt to inspire you to find your own motivation.
